How to pack light, some tips

"Rog'" wrote in message
...
"sharx35" wrote:
You don't understand: for MOST of us married people,
our finances are COMBINED...when we married, we
COMBINED our fortunes, as it were. So it makes NO
difference whose wallet the overweight fees comes out
of...the source is the same.

A few years ago, my wife and I were in a shop in Brussels,
and she arrived at the counter with her hands full. At that
point, I pulled out a CC, handed it to the shopkeeper and
said, "My job is to pay." He nodded and replied, "As it is
of husbands, everywhere."


Ah, it works both ways. All our funds, except for RRSPs (Canadian equivalent
of IRAs--law requires that they be in ONE person's name) are in JOINT NAMES.
When the 1st person dies, ownership, o fnon-RRSP property, including real
estate or investments, reverts to the survivor with NO taxes having to be
paid until the death of the surviving spouse.

Alan S wrote:
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:24:27 -0700,
[..]
I did 11000km through Europe in 9 weeks by car on the 2003
trip;

And you are proud of that?

I might have lasted the first 1000 on a bike but I
suspect my wife would have quit at the 500 mark if she had
started at all:-)

You would have seen much more interesting things on your first 100km on
bike ... do you really think your trip gets more valuable the more km
you do?


The ride from Brisbane to Singapore would have been fun.
Pedalo?

Definitely! ... At least in Indonesia it is absolutely no problem to
take your bike on a bus ...

Manfred

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:41:36 +0200, Manfred Aigner
wrote:

Alan S wrote:
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:24:27 -0700,
[..]
I did 11000km through Europe in 9 weeks by car on the 2003
trip;

And you are proud of that?

Proud? Odd concept for travel. We enjoyed it, which is more
important to me. We obviously enjoy different things. That
doesn't make either of us wrong or right.

And you are critical of that?

I might have lasted the first 1000 on a bike but I
suspect my wife would have quit at the 500 mark if she had
started at all:-)

You would have seen much more interesting things on your first 100km on
bike

Would I? Your opinion, not mine. Mostly we took back roads.
Some places we drove fast, some slow, some we walked a lot.
Some we places we stayed a week, some an hour. 11000km in 9
weeks is only an average of 175km per day, or 2-3 leisurely
hours drive. Not exactly flashing by the countryside. We
never felt rushed, we set our own pace.

... do you really think your trip gets more valuable the more km
you do?

Valuable? Another odd concept for travel. No, it was neither
more nor less valuable. Nor was it more valuable because we
went 35000 flying miles around the world. It just happened
that those flights were necessary to see Europe and the USA
from here in a reasonable timescale. More costly, yes, but
not more valuable.

You seem to feel that all travelers should share your
concepts of pride and value.

The ride from Brisbane to Singapore would have been fun.
Pedalo?

Definitely! ... At least in Indonesia it is absolutely no problem to
take your bike on a bus ...

But difficult to pedal across the Timor Sea...or from my
place to Darwin.

Manfred


Cheers, Alan, Australia
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Slovenia
http://loraltraveloz.blogspot.com/
latest: Mossman Gorge in the Daintree Rainforest

"Chris Blunt" kirjoitti
om...
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:58:18 +0300, Markku Grönroos
wrote:


"Spehro Pefhany" kirjoitti
viestissä:nl3jc3pki22123egcss1f7vrbitem9vb0v@4ax .com...

I carry a small bottle of shampoo, because I don't like the free
stuff. Maybe 200ml, which could last for several weeks. Not having a
mobile phone seems silly.

Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.

I find a phone to keep in touch with people even more useful when I'm
traveling than it is at home. It also serves as a camera, an alarm
clock, a GPS, and a way to check my emails. Something so compact that
does all that and only weighs around 100g easily justifies being taken
along on any trips I make.

Fortunately I don't have to be available for other people at work by phone.
Actually I seldom carry a phone when I am out of home. When I am back I just
check the calls. If wandering in wilderness, a phone may be a good piece in
security terms, but on the other hand I have never went deep in to wild
vistas all my own.

"Spehro Pefhany" kirjoitti
om...

You never visit anyone when you're on holiday?

Not too often so that arrangements should be done by phone.

You don't have anyone depending on you back home?

No. And even if I had, I don't see why I should carry a phone along.

You don't need to make reservations at a restaurant when you're
travelling?

I have never done so.

You don't ever trip a credit card security flag and have to call?

It has happened to me that the vendor (typically a car renter) has not been
able to make a credit card provision at first. Anyways they have always had
a phone in the office.

Any single one of those makes carrying a modern GSM phone well worth
it, assuming you're mostly travelling where they will work.

I have arranged my travels so that there is little need to be instantly
available. When I want to be in touch to outside world I lease a computer
for a moment to send and receive mail. Sometimes it can be beneficial to
book for mass transportation in advance by phone but I leave this to the
hotel personnel. That's why they are there in the first place (typically the
language barrier hinders me to contact the agent anyways).

Alan S wrote:
On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 09:41:36 +0200, Manfred Aigner
wrote:

Alan S wrote:
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 07:24:27 -0700,
[..]
I did 11000km through Europe in 9 weeks by car on the 2003
trip;

And you are proud of that?

Proud? Odd concept for travel. We enjoyed it, which is more
important to me. We obviously enjoy different things. That
doesn't make either of us wrong or right.

Yes we do!
And it is not a question of wrong or right!

And you are critical of that?

No, as long as I do not need to join ;-) .. would be probably as hard
for me to sit 200km in a car as it would be for you to join me on a
biketour ...

[..]
You would have seen much more interesting things on your first 100km on
bike

Would I? Your opinion, not mine.

Yes, I'm sure about that. Traveling by car or motorbike is too fast.
Walking or traveling on bike gives you the chance to observe the
environment and get a feeling about the landscape. Arriving to any place
after some physical exercise is a much better experience that getting
off a car. I'd compare it with climbing a mountain or reaching the top
with a cable car. You're by both ways on the top, but the experience is
a completely different one ...

Mostly we took back roads.
Some places we drove fast, some slow, some we walked a lot.
Some we places we stayed a week, some an hour. 11000km in 9
weeks is only an average of 175km per day, or 2-3 leisurely
hours drive. Not exactly flashing by the countryside. We
never felt rushed, we set our own pace.

You do 175km mostly on back roads a day? In 2-3 hours? That is an
average of 175/2.5 70km, which is really a lot on back roads ... I'dnot
enjoy ...

... do you really think your trip gets more valuable the more km
you do?

Valuable? Another odd concept for travel.

Really? Odder than measuring km/days? Off course is a good trip
valuable, as a weekend at home and lazy Sunday in bad can be ..

No, it was neither
more nor less valuable. Nor was it more valuable because we
went 35000 flying miles around the world. It just happened
that those flights were necessary to see Europe and the USA
from here in a reasonable timescale.

Ah, that is the problem. You try to bunch as many countries as possible
into a limited time frame ... well, if you enjoy that ;-)

More costly, yes, but
not more valuable.

there are other values than costs in $$ .. but well ...

You seem to feel that all travelers should share your
concepts of pride and value.

No, please not ;-), but I simply do not understand what could be the
nice thing of rushing through a country, stopping by in a tourist trap
and looking out for the next hotel sign

The ride from Brisbane to Singapore would have been fun.
Pedalo?

Definitely! ... At least in Indonesia it is absolutely no problem to
take your bike on a bus ...

But difficult to pedal across the Timor Sea...or from my
place to Darwin.

Well, this is probably as difficult as with a car! But once you mastered
Darwin-Kupang you would not have any problem with Kupang-Larantuka,
Labuhanbajo-Sumbawa etc. :-)

Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.

Until you need one, and then you need one.
Phones are very handy devices in some situations.

Do not know if the last sentence is a pun (I believe in Germany they
call "handy" a cell phone, what in Italy is called a "telefonino").

I'm one of the few Italians who do not have a cell phone, and do not
regret it. What I regret, is that with the diffusion of cell phones,
there are less and less phone boots around, specially the coin operated
ones.

In general I do not have need to be contacted when travelling (or simply
when out of home or office), and if so I can leave contact numbers
(offices or hotels). Similarly I generally do not need to call anybody
when travelling, and if I'd need there is usually a phone in my hotel
room, or there are phone boots (unfortunately less now) or other public
phone points.

My only real emergency was when my mother was ill in an hospital in
Scotland, and our travel insurance agent had to communicate us a
reservation code for the pre-paid return ticket, and I had to leave my
hotel sometime before departure. This was elegantly solved using a
service offered by the scottish hospital. Every bed had an LCD screen
device which could be used to receive calls for free, and, with a
pre-paid card, to make calls and watch TV. Since my mother does not
speak English we had not enabled it at the beginning, but did that on
the last day. I tested the system and it was very clever (you dial a
number, and are then instructed to dial a code ... in reply you get a
message saying you are trying to contact the bed of Mrs so-and-so, soyou
can dial 1 to continue or drop the call). My mother was upset when they
changed her room, but the code actually follows the person so it was no
problem (and at the end I got the reservation code in my hotel in
advance). To warn my office of delayed return I used e-mail via the
free internet access in the local public library (very nice, apart a
blank stare when I asked whether they supported ssh ... but I managed
around it).

Slightly annoying was during a short business trip to Porquerolles
island, when I wanted to call home. Our "hotel" was a sort of army or
public service establishment, and rooms had no phones. There were public
phones in the corridor, but, as any other on the island, they weren't
coin operated, and did not work with my credit card, so I simply did not
call.

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On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:26:47 GMT, "sharx35"
wrote:


"Chris Blunt" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 20 Aug 2007 15:58:18 +0300, Markku Grönroos
wrote:


"Spehro Pefhany" kirjoitti
viestissä:nl3jc3pki22123egcss1f7vrbitem9vb0v@4a x.com...

I carry a small bottle of shampoo, because I don't like the free
stuff. Maybe 200ml, which could last for several weeks. Not having a
mobile phone seems silly.

Why? When travelling on holiday, you need a phone. I don't need one.

I find a phone to keep in touch with people even more useful when I'm
traveling than it is at home. It also serves as a camera, an alarm
clock, a GPS, and a way to check my emails. Something so compact that
does all that and only weighs around 100g easily justifies being taken
along on any trips I make.

Chris

They take lousy quality pictures.

In fact I think the 5 megapixel camera on my Nokia N95 takes better
pictures than my Canon IXUS which I bought only a couple of years ago.
It may not be a professional quality camera, I don't think anyone
would describe the quality as lousy.

No, you do NOT need GPS unless you are,
perhaps, on safari and surely the OPERATORS of the safari will take care of
THAT need.

No, I certainly don't *need* GPS, but its was very nice to have while
driving around Thailand a few weeks ago. On several occasions it made
finding locations we were visiting a lot easier.

E-mails can be checked at any one of the MILLIONS of cyber cafes
in the world.

Of course, and that's probably what I'd do if I wanted to do any
serious work online. The advantage for me is being able to check
instantly from anywhere whether there's any email that needs attending
to in the first place, without even having to go near an internet
cafe.

Chris

"Chris Blunt" kirjoitti
om...

No, I certainly don't *need* GPS, but its was very nice to have while
driving around Thailand a few weeks ago. On several occasions it made
finding locations we were visiting a lot easier.

True. I find GPS gadget typically very practical too. Did you have a roadmap
of Thailand installed to the phone?

On Tue, 21 Aug 2007 12:13:03 +0300, Markku Grönroos
wrote:


"Chris Blunt" kirjoitti
viestissä:5j9lc3trdj6avqi2va24skf845uvh2k0ab@4ax. com...

No, I certainly don't *need* GPS, but its was very nice to have while
driving around Thailand a few weeks ago. On several occasions it made
finding locations we were visiting a lot easier.

True. I find GPS gadget typically very practical too. Did you have a roadmap
of Thailand installed to the phone?

With the N95, the phone downloads from a central server just those
sections of the map it needs to display the area around your present
location as you move around.

I think you can pre-load maps for the entire country in advance using
a PC if you prefer to have the full map coverage already stored on
your phone.

Chris